


Brave New World

by gretawhy



Category: High School Musical (Movies)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-16
Updated: 2017-04-16
Packaged: 2018-10-19 11:42:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10639131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gretawhy/pseuds/gretawhy
Summary: Written for easthighstory challenge.  Takes place in the world ofZanna, Don't!.  I don't think you really  need to know the musical to get it, it's explained in the fic, but the link is there if you want to read about it!





	

Ryan hates this new world. 

He hates that when he walks down the hall now, no one pays him any attention; that all the girls are whispering about Troy freaking Bolton. Not that Ryan has any interest in the girls, of course, but he remembers a time when people in the hall whispered about _him_ , when they were excited and breathless when _Ryan_ said hi to them. Now? Well, now he feels like he’s fading into the background.

And the background isn’t exactly where Ryan wants to be.

This is all Zanna’s fault, really. He’s the one who switched things around, made everything spin upside down, made people straight. He’s the one who effectively made Ryan an outcast.

But he can’t be mad at Zanna. Number one, Zanna was too damn chipper all the time to ever get mad at, much less _stay_ mad at. Number two, Zanna was just doing what he thought was right. That world, the world where gay was the norm, wasn’t working right anymore. People were starting to rise up; they were saying awful things about Kate and Steve, and for what? All they did was fall in love, Zanna didn’t understand why no one could see that. There was no crime in that, after all, Zanna’s whole goal in life is to make sure everyone was in love. And a world where Steve and Kate could fall in love and be happy, well, what could be wrong about that?

Everything. Everything could be wrong about that. Ryan shuts his locker door and turns, leaning his back against it, watching the people mill the halls. Now Ryan was the one who was the outcast. Theater people weren’t as popular in this world. Before, they were at the top of the food chain, now they teeter above the chess club. Mike, the most popular guy at Heartsville High before would be the biggest loser at Heartsville High now. Ryan’s almost glad Mike graduated and went to college; he’d have hated to see that happen.

But no one remembers. And that’s what Ryan doesn’t understand. Why can _he_ remember what the other world was like, but no one else? Sharpay doesn’t even remember the fact that she was madly in love with Gabriella. They had dated for over a year, and now they barely get along. How can Sharpay forget about that? What makes it so different for Ryan? He remembers every boyfriend, every kiss, every crush he’s ever had.

He sighs and picks up his backpack, slinging it onto his shoulder, and slowly, he starts walking down the hall. His eyes are downcast, on his shoes, focusing on the way his laces are almost untied, vaguely thinking he should have tied a double knot, because they came open about seven times during the day.

“Hey, Evans!” A voice calls out and Ryan doesn’t look up, assuming someone’s talking to Sharpay, who’s currently holding court by her locker. “Evans, wait up!”

A heavy arm is suddenly around Ryan’s shoulder and he doesn’t have to look up to know it’s Chad. Chad who Ryan’s been in love with for three years. Chad who is now one of the most popular guys in school. Chad who doesn’t remember a single thing about the way life used to be, when he and Troy were joined at the hip for reasons other than being best friends.

Chad who he never stands a chance with.

“Hey Chad,” Ryan says tonelessly. “What’s up?”

“Darbus is forcing us to try out for the musical,” Chad says, and Ryan can’t really focus on his words, because all his attention is on the arm draped around his shoulders. 

Ryan clears his throat and brings Chad’s words into focus. He shrugs, “So?”

Chad laughs and Ryan turns his head to watch. “So! I don’t act. And I don’t sing.” He stops and Ryan stops with him. Chad crosses his arms over his chest and looks at Ryan. “And I certainly don’t dance.”

Ryan rolls his eyes, “Who cares, Chad? If you don’t do any of that stuff, you probably won’t get a part anyway.”

”Yeah,” Chad says, considering, “you’re probably right.” A lopsided grin crosses his face, “but what if I end up being awesome and getting a part?”

Ryan sighs patiently, “Then obviously you’ll have earned it and you have nothing to worry about.” He pats Chad on the shoulder and turns away from him, heading down the hallway.

“Dude!” Chad runs after him, falling in step next to Ryan. “Will you help me?”

Ryan barks out a laugh before he can stop it. “With what? You just said you don’t act, sing or dance, why would you want to do well and get a part?”

Chad shrugs, “I don’t like to fail. Besides, I have to be better than Troy in something, right?”

Something in Chad’s voice makes Ryan tilt his head and study the other boy. “I think you’re better than Troy,” Ryan says softly.

Chad smiles faintly at him, “Thanks, Evans. Now get me a part in that play.”

***** 

After Roberta graduated and left Heartsville for college, Zanna took over her shifts at the diner. Tank was starting his own business here in town, and Zanna was more than happy to stay here with him. So when Ryan pushes open the door to the diner, he’s not surprised at all to see Zanna wiping down the counter.

“Hi Ryan!” Zanna chirps when the door shuts behind Ryan. Ryan can’t help but grin at Zanna in return.

Ryan’s never met anyone like Zanna. Ryan could count on one hand the number of times he’s seen Zanna in a bad mood; that’s just how the other boy is. He always has a smile for someone and he will absolutely do anything at all to help a friend out. In the other – better, by the way – world, Zanna was known for trying to set people up. There is nothing at all Zanna loves more than seeing two people in love. Ryan thinks he’s still like that in this world, but now he doesn’t have his magic anymore, so it’s a lot harder to get people to do what you want them to do. But Zanna’s persuasive, if anyone could do it, he could. Hell, Ryan’s grinning just from him saying hi, and Ryan is still in a bad mood, dammit.

Ryan sighs heavily and sits on a stool at the counter, dropping his backpack on the floor. “I hate walking home. Shar took the car, of course, and then forgot me at school.”

“Of course,” Zanna says along with him, and Ryan laughs. 

Ryan rests his elbow on the counter and sets his chin on his hand. Zanna puts down the rag he was using to wipe the spotless counter and mimics Ryan’s motion. “So what’s up, buttercup?” he asks and Ryan laughs.

“Nothing,” he sighs. “I could just use a milkshake.”

”Coming right up!” Zanna says and turns, taking ice cream out of the cooler. “Chocolate banana, right?” he asks and Ryan nods.

Ryan’s quiet as Zanna makes his shake, his mind on Chad. Just how the hell was he going to get Chad a part in the musical? Especially since he didn’t sing, dance or act. Ryan groaned and dropped his head onto the counter. This was going to be torture. Besides the whole getting Chad a part in the play thing, he had to deal with his own feelings for Chad.

“Something wrong?” Zanna asks and Ryan rolls his eyes, cause, hi, you think?

“Chad wants a part in the play,” Ryan says as he lifts his head from the counter. “And guess who he asked to get him one?”

Zanna’s face lights up and he grins, “Chad? This is great, Ryan! You’ve liked him for so long! And now you can work with him and help him and get closer to him and he’ll fall in love with you for sure!” He set Ryan’s milkshake on the counter in front of him.

Ryan scowls and stirs his straw around in his milkshake. “One problem, Zanna. It’s not the same world we used to live in. Chad’s all in love with Taylor, remember?”

Zanna’s face drops, “Yeah, that’s true.” He sighs, resting his elbows on the counter. “That could be a problem.”

Ryan snorts, “That’s an understatement.” He sighs again and takes a long sip of his milkshake. He had no idea how Zanna did it, but he made a milkshake better than anyone else in this place. “How’s Tank?” he asks, looking up.

Zanna grins again, “He’s awesome! His business is really starting to take off! He’s going to be to be the DJ at the dance in two weeks!”

“Zanna, that’s great!” Ryan says, and he really means it. Tank always was super nice to Ryan in the old world, and that hadn’t changed when everything else did. Tank did a lot of work with the school musicals, and he’s a big part of the reason Kelsi is so talented now.

Zanna nods, “It is! And I’ll be there, too, you can request any song you want for Chad and I’ll make sure he plays it.”

Laughing, Ryan shakes his head, “No, I think we’ll leave that dance off the bill, okay?” He stirs his straw and sobers slightly. “Zanna, can I ask you something?”

Zanna nods, “Of course! What’s up?”

“Why do you think we remember?”

“What do you mean?” Zanna asks, tilting his head.

Ryan shrugs, “You know, the old world. We remember it, how it was. I remember Chad and Troy holding hands walking down the hallway. God, I wish I could forget, but I remember Shar and Gabriella making out in the hallway every afternoon. And not that I care about being popular, but I remember that I made people giddy, not Troy. I remember everything.” His eyes are on the glass in front of him, but suddenly, he’s not in the mood for it anymore, and he pushes it away. “And you and Tank remember everything. Why doesn’t everyone?”

“Well,” Zanna says slowly, “I think I remember because it was my spell. I’m the one who did this.”

”Okay,” Ryan says, “what about me? And Tank? Why do we remember?”

Zanna shrugs and licks his lips. “I have a vague idea…”

Ryan unconsciously leans forward, “Yeah?”

”It’s not concrete,” Zanna says, waving his hand and picking up his rag again. “I don’t know, Ryan, I guess some people are just more open to remembering it.”

“Come on Zanna,” Ryan prods. “Tell me.”

Zanna purses his lips and Ryan almost feels bad, he knows Zanna doesn’t want to say anything if he’s not one hundred percent sure about it. “Fine,” Zanna says, “but I don’t know for sure, so don’t take my word for it or anything, alright?”

Ryan nods, “Yeah, totally.”

After a moment’s hesitation, Zanna shrugs. “Because we haven’t changed. We’re still the same people. Everyone else, they have the same personalities and they look the same, and from the outside, they _are_. But not us. We’re the same, inside and out. So there was nothing that we wanted to forget.”

Ryan mulls over Zanna’s words. “So you mean,” he says slowly, “because we still like boys, we didn’t forget that that’s how it always was?”

Zanna nods, “Yeah. Tank still loved me, I still wanted boys, you still like Chad,” he shrugs, “it’s the same world for us. For our own personal world.” He looks at Ryan almost sadly, “it’s just everyone else’s world that actually changed. We just have to adjust.”

“Why’d you do it?” Ryan asks him softly. “Things were great before.” He looks down, “I had a shot with him in that world. Now, I don’t.”

Zanna doesn’t quite look at him, “Because Steve and Kate deserved a shot, too.”

Ryan narrows his eyes and watches him. There was something… Ryan’s eyes widened. “Steve? Really?” He grins, “you had a thing for Steve?” Zanna doesn’t answer, but a faint blush appears high on his cheeks. “Wow.” Ryan smiles faintly, “he is hot.”

Zanna shrugs and doesn’t answer.

Ryan sobers slightly, “But… wait. You did this, even though you knew in this world…”

Zanna finally looks up. “That I wouldn’t have a shot? Yeah, I did. Because that’s what love is about. Giving something up for someone else. I wouldn’t make him happy, but Kate would, and in that other world… well, it would have been way worse for them there than it is for us here.”

“You really believe that?” Ryan asks him. “That it was worse for them there?”

Zanna nods, his voice soft. “I have to. Because I can’t change it back.”

Ryan nods, falling silent, rolling Zanna’s words around in his mind. He was right. Love isn’t supposed to be selfish. And it would be selfish of Ryan to turn down Chad’s request. He has no valid reason for turning it down anyway, unless you count the fact that spending that much time with Chad would make Ryan pine for him even more than he already does, and it would drive home the fact that Ryan would never, ever, ever have a chance with him, because he’s all blissfully happy with Taylor now, Ryan doesn’t even know, since he tries to not pay attention to the parade of women Chad is now going through, so yeah, that would just be selfish, it would be selfish because Ryan would only be trying to save himself the hurt rather than doing something _for_ Chad and…

”Ryan!” Zanna’s voice cuts into his thoughts and when Ryan jerks his head towards Zanna, he gathers from the look on the other man’s face that wasn’t the first time he tried to interrupt Ryan’s thoughts. Zanna blinked, his eyes wide, “I have no idea what you were thinking about, but wow, you were staring into space for a while.”

Ryan sighs, “I was thinking about Chad,” he rolls his eyes at Zanna’s smirk and “of course,” and Ryan shrugs. “I figure I should help him get the part.”

Zanna squeals and claps his hands excitedly, his whole face lighting up. “Yes! Okay, good, this is what we’re going to do…”

”Woah, woah,” Ryan says, holding up his hand, “we are not going to ‘do’ anything. I am going to teach him how to sing mostly on key, act and ugh, convince him that he does, in fact, dance. And I am going to get him a part in this musical and then I am done.” He mimes wiping his hands together, “Finished. Washing my hands of Chad Danforth.”

”But…”

”No!” Ryan says, his voice emphatic. “That’s it. And then I’m going to get through my senior year and go off to San Francisco and find a nice, sexy, Spanish boy to cater to my every whim.”

Zanna nods, “Okay, if that’s what you want. Just… be open to possibilities.”

Ryan gets off the stool and picks up his backpack, shrugging it onto his shoulders. “Whatever, Zanna, I’m open. Chad’s the one who needs to open his mind, not me.”

Zanna shrugs and puts Ryan’s empty shake glass in the sink under the counter. “Good luck, Ryan!” he calls after him.

Ryan lifts his hand and waves, opening the door to the sunshine beyond.

***** 

Chad is awful. 

Ryan is seriously reconsidering that whole “love isn’t selfish” thing.

****** 

Ryan groans, “Seriously, Chad? You can _not_ be this bad!”

Chad stops his dance – if you can even call it that – and turns to face Ryan. His hair is even more ridiculous than normal, the curls are held back from his face with a red bandanna, so it’s making the corkscrews that is his hair stand straight up at the top of his head. Ryan can barely look at it without wanting to cross the room and pull Chad’s hair out at the roots. Chad is glistening with sweat and he’s breathing a bit heavier than normal. He puts his hands on his hips and huffs at Ryan. 

”Christ, Evans, we can’t all be genetically blessed with the triple threat gene!”

“It would be nice if you were blessed with _one_ threatening gene!” Ryan says to him.

Chad rolls his eyes and flops onto the hardwood floor of the dance studio. He shakes his head, “I told you I don’t dance.”

“But you should be good at it! It only makes sense!” Ryan protests.

“Why?” Chad asks, looking up at him, “cause I’m black?”

It’s Ryan’s turn to roll his eyes and he throws his hands up, “Yeah,” he says, sarcastically, “it’s exactly that reason.”

Chad scowls at him and lies on his back, putting his hands on his stomach, lacing his fingers together. “Maybe I should just give this up,” he mutters.

It takes everything Ryan has to not agree with Chad. Instead he looks at him, this boy on the floor that Ryan is very barely resisting – stupid hair and sweat and all – and he sighs. “No, come on. Get up. Let’s get you dancing.”

Chad barely opens his eyes, “Dude, we’ve established that I’m not good at it.”

Ryan shakes his head, “That’s because you’ve convinced yourself you’re not. Come on.” He motions to Chad to get up. “Let’s go. We’ll put on some of that stupid hip hop you uneducated people listen to and we’ll get you moving.”

Chad slowly gets up, “You know, Evans,” he says, “things might go better if you stop insulting me.”

Ryan ignores him and goes to the radio, pushing the tuner button to seek, listening to what it tunes in for a few seconds before scanning to the next station. He finally decides on something, a song with a low bass beat. “Okay, this is a bit slower than I want, but it’ll do.” He wipes his palms on the back of his shorts and moves to the center of the floor. “Okay, now just… move. Close your eyes and listen to the beat and move.”

Ryan demonstrates. He closes his eyes, his head nodding in time with the slow beat. After a second, he starts dancing, his knees bending, feet shifting, hips twisting to the beat. He’s barely aware of what he’s doing, his arms raised above his head, feet taking him in a circle, hips jutting out to the pounding of the bass. The song changes and Ryan easily shifts to the faster beat and he’s surprised to find that he’s having fun dancing to this song, it’s different than his usual show tunes or the songs that Sharpay makes him sing and dance to. This is edgier, there’s a sexy feel to this music, it doesn’t even matter what the lyrics are, dancing to this song makes Ryan feel sexy, like people would be staring at him if he were dancing to this song in a club. It’s almost… dirty.

Ryan opens his eyes slightly to see what Chad’s doing. Ryan’s slightly disappointed to find that Chad is not, in fact, looking at Ryan like he wants him on a silver platter, but he’s pleasantly surprised to find him dancing. It’s not awkward at all, not like before, when Chad’s feet were tripping over themselves and his hips were hopelessly on the wrong beat.

This is amazing. The change in Chad is enough to make Ryan stop dancing to watch. _This_ is the music Chad was born to dance to. He’s doing this weird standing-squatting thing, his feet planted shoulder width apart, and Ryan would never do that, but Chad makes it look good. He gets some kind of inspiration and effortlessly maneuvers a spin, his arms thrown above his head, his mouth moving to the words, a grin on his face. His eyes are closed, and as if he feels Ryan watching him, they open and he meets Ryan’s eyes and grins. 

Then he makes a motion towards Ryan. He extends an arm in Ryan’s direction, bending his finger and beckoning him over. Ryan raises his eyebrows, but his momma didn’t raise no fool, and Ryan moves to where Chad is dancing. 

“Like this,” Chad tells him, as if Ryan was the one who asked Chad for dance lessons. Ryan watches Chad’s feet, his brow wrinkling, trying to figure out how Chad knows this complicated step that is uncannily close to country line dancing, and then easily follows Chad’s movements.

Chad laughs and Ryan looks over at him, sees his head thrown back in pure joy and suddenly, Ryan is so fucking glad he agreed to do this for Chad. He has never seen the other boy look this happy, not in this world, not in the last, and Ryan almost feels a little guilty, like he shouldn’t be witnessing this. Like seeing him this happy should be a private thing, almost as if Chad has let down his barriers, forgetting that someone was with him.

Suddenly, Chad grabs Ryan by the waist and with a whoop of joy that coincides with the words of the song, Chad’s spinning Ryan, Ryan’s feet off the ground. Chad sets him down and says, “See, I guess us uneducated do know a thing or two about dance, huh?”

Ryan laughs, but it’s shaky, because he’s still _so close_ to Chad, Chad’s hands are still on his hips. Ryan shifts, his leg between Chad’s thighs and he nods, “I guess you do,” Ryan consents.

Chad grins and his hands are resting on Ryan’s hips, and they’re still dancing. The beat changes again, and it’s once again slow, sexy, and Ryan makes a motion to step away from Chad, but Chad holds him where he is, easily moving into this slower rhythm. Ryan looks up at Chad and Chad grins, “Okay, Evans, watch and learn. This is how you dance with a girl to make her want to sleep with you.”

Ryan swallows thickly, shrugs. “I don’t want to sleep with a girl,” he says.

Chad smiles faintly, “Then this is how you dance with a boy to make him want to sleep with you. And when you get laid, you can thank me.”

Ryan is about to reply, but then Chad’s hand slides from his hips to his lower back and suddenly, Chad has Ryan pressed up against his body, Ryan’s thigh between Chad’s, their feet somehow managing to avoid the other’s, and Ryan has no choice but to put his hands on Chad’s upper arms. He lets Chad lead him, their hips pressed together and Ryan is praying desperately with everything he holds dear to not let Chad see just how much this is affecting Ryan.

Chad begins to move his hips and Ryan bites back a groan at the contact. His fingers are hot against Ryan’s back, and Ryan wonders if he’ll have burn marks on the small of his back from where they’re touching him. He wishes he could, he wishes he could have some kind of tangible thing to remember this by, because he’s sure after Chad lets go of him, Ryan will not really be able to believe this is happening.

“Relax, Evans,” Chad murmurs against Ryan’s ear and Ryan closes his eyes and barely holds back the shudder that passes through his body. Ryan decides to just go with the flow, because this might be the only time he ever gets to dance with Chad like this, and dammit, Ryan is going to take it and milk it for all it’s worth.

Ryan moves his hands from Chad’s upper arms to around Chad’s shoulders. He begins to dance the way Ryan knows he can dance – slow, sensual, and making Chad believe he is the only one Ryan ever wants to dance with like this. His hips press against Chad’s, his fingers slide from Chad’s shoulders to the back of his neck, tangling in the hair there, not pulling, but still slightly possessive. Ryan thinks he hears Chad groan, but then again, he could be imagining it. Chad’s fingers move back to Ryan’s hips, and he maneuvers Ryan’s body easily, turning him, leading him in this dance, and Ryan lets him. He lets Chad have the upper hand, he knows this is Chad’s dance and Ryan is just a willing participant.

The song changes again, the DJ voice comes on and breaks into the reverie, but neither boy lets go of the other, and when the song shifts to the faster beat, they don’t speed up, their sensual pace stays, and Ryan wonders if Chad still hears the previous song in his head, too.

Ryan pulls his head back slightly, runs his eyes over Chad’s lips, over his nose and finally pulls his gaze to Chad’s eyes. Chad is watching him, his eyes a bit darker than normal, and if Ryan listens, he can hear Chad’s slightly ragged breathing over the pounding beat of the music. Ryan licks his lips and Chad’s eyes fall to them, but then the song is over again, and the harsh announcers voice comes on talking about some used car sale in the area and Chad steps back from Ryan, putting a foot between them.

Chad smiles crookedly, lifting his hand to rub the back of his neck. “See that, Evans,” he says, his voice even, “now go out and get yourself laid.”

Ryan laughs softly, a bit uneasily, his heart still racing from the dance with Chad. “Yeah. I definitely can see how that works for you.” He looks up at Chad from under his lashes, “Taylor is a lucky woman,”

Chad opens his mouth to say something, then seems to change his mind and he just nods. “Yeah. She’s cool.” He glances at the clock on the wall and says, “God, look at the time, my mom is going to flip. I gotta go.” He moves around Ryan and picks up his backpack from where he dropped it just inside the door. “I’ll see you later, Evans, yeah?”

Ryan looks up and catches Chad’s eye in the mirror, “Yeah, see ya.” He doesn’t turn around to watch Chad leave.

***** 

So as it turns out, Chad’s much better at singing than he is at dancing. Ryan only has to teach him a few breathing exercises and he’s remarkably good. So Ryan decides to move past that, and try to combine the singing and dancing together. He asks Kelsi for the sheet music for the play, and Kelsi hesitates, because no one is supposed to have it, yet, but Ryan smiles at her, promises her a shopping trip at her favorite store and Kelsi gives in. She makes Ryan promise that he won’t show it to Sharpay because, “I’d like her to actually sing it my way this time,” and Ryan nods, kisses her cheek and heads to the studio where Chad is waiting.

When he gets there, Chad is sitting on the floor next to Taylor, both their backs against the mirror. Their voices are low, heads together and Ryan pulls up short just inside the door. He watches them for a moment and sighs softly when Chad rests his head on Taylor’s shoulder. She shakes her head, says something too low for Ryan to hear and Chad smiles faintly, almost sadly.

Ryan clears his throat and they look up, but don’t move from each other. “Hey,” he says, forcing a smile in their direction. “I didn’t know you were going to be here,” he says to Taylor. “How are you?”

Taylor smiles at Ryan, “I’m good, Ryan, thanks. I was just hanging for a few minutes until you got here.” She stands up and grins down at Chad, “Call me later,” she tells him and he nods, and with a final grin at Ryan, she leaves. 

Ryan looks down at Chad, “You okay?”

Chad nods, “Yeah, I am. Thanks.” He doesn’t look okay, he still looks a bit sad, but Ryan isn’t going to push. His job is to get Chad a part in the play, not to ask him about what’s bothering him. 

“Okay. So hey, I got the music from Kelsi,” he says and sits on the floor across from Chad. 

Chad looks up, almost interested. “Yeah?” He makes a face, “I’m guessing it’s all very show tuney, huh?”

Ryan laughs, “Yeah, it is. I don’t know I can convince her to do something more suited for you or not. I can try, though.”

Chad perks up slightly, “Yeah? Really? That be awesome, Evans. And I mean, that way, even if I don’t get a big part, I can at least have one song, right?”

Ryan leans back on his hands and tilts his head to study Chad. “You really want this, don’t you?”

”I do now,” Chad admits. “In the beginning, I just wanted to beat Troy, but now… yeah.” He’s picking at his shoelace and he looks up at Ryan, a small smile on his face. “You’re taking this so seriously, I’d hate to let you down.”

“Oh,” Ryan says, feeling a blush rise on his cheeks. “Chad’s that not… you wouldn’t let me down.”

Chad shrugs, “I know. I mean, you say that, but it would be a disappointment after all this to not get something, right?” Ryan shrugs noncommittally, and Chad grins, “Come on, I was hopeless, and now look at me. I can dance…”

“You could dance before,” Ryan protests, “we just had to find the right kind of music.”

”Fine,” Chad relents, “but now I can dance to other music. And I can sing, and well, the acting thing shouldn’t be too hard, right? But still. I can do more now than I could a month ago, and I have you to thank for that. I’d hate to not get a part and have this all go to waste.”

Ryan studies him for a moment. “Well, I really hope you get something, then. I mean, if you really want it now, then you should have it.” He grins, “But you won’t get the lead. That’s all mine.”

Chad laughs and the Chad from ten minutes ago, the one who was moping and sad, is gone. “Oh Evans, I would never think of invading your turf like that. I could not replace Ryan Evans.”

Ryan grins at him and nods, “Damn right. There is only room for one Ryan Evans in his town.”

”Yeah,” Chad says, and it might be Ryan’s imagination, but Chad’s smile seems just a bit softer. “There sure is.”

***** 

“Evans!” 

Ryan hears his name being called and he grins to himself before turning around. Chad is making his way down the hall to Ryan’s locker. The other boy has a wide smile on his face and Ryan ignores the flip-flop his stomach does at the sight of him. 

“Hey, Evans,” Chad says, “I was hoping you heard me.”

Ryan laughs and pulls a book from his locker. “Chad, you’re kind of loud. We all heard you.”

Chad laughs and leans against Sharpay’s locker to talk to Ryan. “So hey, let’s blow off the practice today.”

Ryan raises his eyebrows, “Blow it off? But tryouts are in three days.”

Chad lifts his hand and waves it, “I don’t care. We’ve been doing this for weeks. If I don’t know it now I’m not going to, right?”

Ryan considers and he shrugs and nods. Personally, _he_ would never blow off practice three days before an audition, but he’s not Chad. Plus, Ryan’s been practicing with Sharpay at night, so it’s not like he won’t get to do at least a little of his audition number tonight. “Okay,” he finally says. “Go. Have fun.” 

“What?” Chad asks, his forehead wrinkled.

“Go,” Ryan says, smiling and making a shooing motion in Chad’s direction. “Have fun. You’re off the hook today.”

”Oh,” Chad says and he deflates a bit. “You don’t want to hang?”

Now it’s Ryan’s turn to be confused. “What? But I thought you didn’t want to rehearse.”

”I don’t,” Chad says, “but I thought maybe we could go someplace. It’s nice out, and I thought since you showed me some of your things, maybe I could teach you some of mine.”

Ryan slowly closes his locker and turns to Chad. “You want to hang out with _me_?” He can hardly believe it. He thought Chad had been hanging out with him because of the rehearsal, not because he chose to. But now here was Chad, voluntarily asking to hang out with Ryan.

“Well,” Chad ducks his head, “yeah, why not? Have you ever played basketball?”

Ryan laughs out loud. “Oh Jesus. Seriously? No.” Ryan shakes his head, “Baseball, yeah, but not basketball. I’d probably get hit in the face trying to get a rebound.”

Chad grins and throws his arm around Ryan’s shoulders, leading him from his locker and to the front doors of the school. “Trust me, Evans. You will not get hit in the face.”

***** 

Ryan gets hit in the face. 

“Ow!” He cries, his hand going to his nose. “Son of a…” Ryan closes his eyes tightly trying to feel if his nose is broken. And Chad is laughing.

Ryan opens his eyes and fixes Chad with what he hopes is a glare. “I don’t see how this is funny,” he informs him.

Chad had his hands on his knees, literally doubled over in laughter. “Come on, dude, it’s funny! I mean, you were worried about that exact thing happening and it did! It’s just a funny coincidence.”

Ryan lowers his hands from his nose, satisfied that his nose wasn’t broken, and he scowls. “I fail to see how this is funny. I could have broken my nose!”

That causes Chad to start laughing again and Ryan throws his hands in the air, “Ugh!”

Chad laughs and moves to the grass next to the basketball court. He lies on his back and laces his fingers on his stomach, a pose so familiar to Ryan now that now he barely runs his eyes over Chad’s body anymore when he lies like that, he just moves next to him and lays down on the grass.

They lay in companionable silence for a while. “This is a nice day,” Chad finally says, turning his head to look at Ryan. “Come on, let’s go over there.”

Ryan sits up, “Over where?” he asks, but gets up and follows Chad. ‘Over there’ ends up being just a few yards from the basketball court. The lawn of the park dips down, so there’s a sloping hill that leads to the baseball diamond below. 

“I used to sit here when I was a kid,” Chad tells Ryan as he sits down. “I would watch the older kids play baseball down there and wish I was old enough.”

Ryan sits next to him on the grass and pulls his legs to his chest. “And now you are old enough.”

Chad nods, “Yep. And it’s like full circle, you know? I look up here sometimes when we play, to see if there’s any kids who might be watching me.”

Ryan turns his head towards Chad, rests his cheek on his knees and smiles at him. “I bet there are kids here. You guys are good,” he says, “I’ve been to a few games.”

“Yeah,” Chad grins, “we are.” He lies on his back and Ryan follows suit and they lie in silence for a few minutes. Then Chad breaks the silence. “Thanks a lot, Evans,” he says softly, and Ryan turns his head towards Chad. “I appreciate what you’ve done for me. You didn’t have to do that.”

“Yes, I did,” Ryan tells him. He doesn’t say how he’d do anything for Chad, how this was sort of selfish on Ryan’s part, that spending this much time with Chad was worth anything to him. 

”No,” Chad says, “you didn’t, because it’s not like we were close and it’s not like I had pure intentions of genuinely wanting to like the theater. I mean, I did just do this to get Troy to shut the hell up.”

Ryan smiles, “What makes you think that’s not why I did it?”

Chad laughs and then turns his eyes back to the sky, which is slowly starting to darken. There’s a spattering of stars appearing on the horizon and Ryan can’t help but think that this might be his favorite time of day; when the sky is still light enough from the sunset, the pinks and blues blending to the deeper colors, the purple of evening slowly taking over the sky. Lying on this hill next to Chad, Ryan can almost pretend that no one else exists.

“Can I ask you something?” Chad asks and Ryan smiles.

“You just did,” he points out.

Chad laughs softly and says, “Do you ever miss the other world?”

Ryan blinks and slowly looks over at Chad. Chad is still looking at the sky and his face is unreadable.

“What?” Ryan whispers and his voice is barely louder than a breath.

Chad pulls his eyes from the sky and looks at Ryan. His eyes are flat, almost sad. “You don’t remember,” Chad says after a moment. He sighs and shakes his head, standing up, brushing the seat of his pants off. “Neither does Troy, he looked at me like I was insane when I asked him.” He waves his hand and Ryan can’t do anything but stare up at him in shock. “Never mind,” Chad continues, “must have been a dream. Crazy dream, huh?” He laughs, a sound that Ryan knows is forced.

Ryan wants to move, wants to get up and run after Chad, grab him by the arm and asks him what exactly he remembers, how does he remember it and didn’t he remember it before? Why now? Why not six months ago? What happened, dammit, _what changed_?

But Ryan can’t move. He just sits and watches Chad walk away from him, a thousand questions in his mind.

***** 

Ryan bursts through the door to the diner and says, “He remembers!” There’s a couple people sitting at the counter and Zanna finishes pouring coffee before turning his attention to Ryan. The two guys at the counter shoot Ryan a funny look, exchange a look between themselves which clearly states that they think Ryan is crazy, but Ryan doesn’t care. _Chad remembers_.

“Who?” Zanna asks, wrinkling his forehead, then his eyes grow wide and he sets the coffee on the counter, a grin splitting his face. “Chad? He _remembers_? Ryan, do you know what this means?”

Ryan grins, suddenly giddy, and he sits down on a stool, pushing his feet against the bottom rung and spinning the stool in a circle. “He remembers! He asked me today if I miss the other world.” When the stool brings him around to the counter again, he grips the edge, stopping himself and looking at Zanna. “I might have a shot, Zanna! You think only people who are like us remember, that means Chad might be like us!”

Zanna grins and leans on the countertop, gripping Ryan’s hand and squeezing it. “What did he say when you said you miss it?”

Ryan’s smile falters, “Well. I didn’t exactly say that…”

“What?” Zanna makes a shooing motion, “you go tell him!”

Ryan groans and drops his head on the counter, “Oh hell, he thinks I don’t remember it. I just couldn’t talk, Zanna!”

Zanna nods, “You were in shock, understandable. But he needs to know you remember and you like him!”

“What do I say?” Ryan asks, watching Zanna walk around the counter to him. “What are you doing?” Zanna pushes Ryan off the stool and practically out the door. “Hey!” Ryan protests. “Stop it!”

”No!” Zanna tells him and puts his hands on his hips, pointing at the door. Ryan can picture him in the other world, glitter on his face, wand in his hand, pointing the way, and Ryan can’t help but grin. No matter what, Zanna hasn’t changed. “You go right now. You get that boy before he thinks he’s crazy and the only one who has these feelings!”

“I don’t think…” Ryan starts, trying to tell Zanna that Chad knows Ryan likes boys, but Zanna cuts him off.

“Stop talking! Go!” Zanna puts his hands over his ears and Ryan rolls his eyes, but complies.

***** 

Mr. Danforth told Ryan that Chad was in the backyard when Ryan knocked on their door. He had pointed around the house, and Ryan took that to mean that he should just walk around the house rather than through the house. He sighs and walks through perfectly cut grass to the backyard. 

Ryan has never been to Chad’s house, and he appraises the backyard, actually pretty impressed. The Evans’ backyard is pretty awesome with its deck and endless lawn, but the Evans’ pay a pretty penny to a landscaper to make sure it looks awesome. Ryan’s relatively sure that Chad’s family doesn’t pay a landscaper, but their lawn is every bit as awesome as Ryan’s. It’s not as big, of course, but they have a few trees at the edges of the lawn providing shade. There’s an out of ground pool surrounded by a deck, and Ryan looks for Chad on the deck, not seeing him. He peers into the darkness wishing there was more light out here than just the moon.

“What are you doing here?” Chad’s voice floats to Ryan, but Ryan still has no idea where he is. “Up here,” he says and Ryan looks up into a tree. Chad is sitting on the wooden planks of a tree house.

”A tree house?” Ryan smiles, “Really?”

Chad shrugs, and Ryan can see he’s a bit defensive. “It’s not as fancy as Troy’s, but it’ll do.”

Ryan walks to the tree and looks up at Chad. “Can I come up?”

Chad shrugs, but doesn’t tell him no, so Ryan takes that as an invitation and dubiously looks at the boards nailed to the tree. He bites his lip, debating.

“For Christ’s sake, Evans,” Chad calls down to him, “you’re about a hundred ten pounds soaking wet, it holds me, it’ll hold you.”

Ryan scowls, but puts his hands on the wood, testing the hold before starting to climb the ladder. Once he starts, he makes it to the top in a few seconds, and he sits on the wood next to Chad, his legs dangling in the air next to Chad’s.

“What do you want?” Chad asks, and his tone is not unfriendly, just kind of resigned.

Ryan practiced his speech on the way over here, he knew what he wanted to say, the inflection he wanted to use, and how Chad should respond. Funny how Ryan remembers every line when he’s on stage in front of hundreds of people, and yet, when he’s sitting right next to Chad, he can’t remember a thing.

“Well, the thing is…” Ryan licks his lips. Should he start with the fact that he remembers, too? Or should he start with how he’s been half in love with Chad since eighth grade? Or should he throw all that out the window and ask Chad how he feels, why he suddenly remembers things?

”Yeah?” Chad asks, and Ryan can hear the impatience in his voice.

”Do you remember freshman year?” Ryan asks, and he doesn’t know what he’s going to say or where he’s going with this, but his brain decided to tell his mouth to talk, so Ryan supposes he should just go along with it. 

“Um,” Chad says uncertainly, “I guess? I mean, it was only three years ago.”

“Yeah,” Ryan says, flushing. “But for me, it was like yesterday. Because the last day of school in eighth grade, I was picking on Troy for being such a jock and not being good at chess. I went right up to him and told him he was such a geek for playing baseball.” Ryan picks at a thread on his white jeans as he talks. “And you came up to me, with all that hair and fire in your eyes, and you seriously looked like a madman, but you came up to me and poked your finger in my chest and told me ‘you think you’re so much cooler than us, Evans, just cause you know how to move a few chess pieces on a board. Well, you’re not, cause Troy is the coolest _ever_.’” Ryan smiles faintly, his eyes on the ground below his dangling feet. “And you took his arm and turned him and walked away. And you haven’t let go of his arm, yet.”

Ryan fell silent. He has no idea what any of that even meant, but there it was. He had never told anyone about that before. Even Shar didn’t know how much of a dick Ryan was. Ryan finds it ironic that now Troy is the cool one and Ryan is the geek. It’s not lost on him that in this world, tables were completely turned, that for Ryan and Troy there was just no happy medium, they were still on opposite ends of the spectrum.

Chad still hasn’t replied and Ryan turns his head slightly and looks at him. Chad’s staring at him, his eyes confused.

”But,” Chad finally says, then doesn’t seem to have the words to go on. He purses his lips slightly, thinking, and Ryan waits him out. Finally: “you remember.”

Ryan licks his lips, knowing Chad’s not just talking about remembering that moment in their lives, that he’s talking about the bigger picture, about this world and that world and all the changes between them.

”Yeah,” Ryan says, “I remember.”

“Then why didn’t you say something before?” Chad asks, and Ryan can tell he’s barely keeping the accusatory tone from his voice. “When I mentioned it, you made me think you didn’t remember!”

Ryan takes a deep breath, “I was just so surprised, Chad! I mean, no one else remembers. Zanna does. And Tank does, but that’s it. No one else.” He looks at his hands, he doesn’t want to say more, but he can’t help it. His voice is soft, “And if you remember… then I get my hopes up again, and I don’t know if I can deal with having them crushed.”

Chad tilts his head, “I don’t understand,” he says. “What do you mean?”

Ryan closes his eyes, then opens them, but refuses to look at Chad. “That moment in eighth grade… everything changed. I finally understood why guys wanted to kiss someone else. It was like that was my great big epiphany. For the first time in my life, I actually wanted to kiss someone.” Chad’s not saying anything, so Ryan feels he has to fill the silence between them, “and it hasn’t changed since. And all you could see was Troy.” He lifts his shoulders and lets them drop, shrugging. “And then we came to this world and you were all into Taylor.”

“But-“ Chad tries to interrupt, but Ryan’s suddenly talkative and not done.

“And I hate it here. I hate this world, I want to go back to the other one, the one where everyone was like me. Because it’s not that I mind so much being different, I prefer to be an individual, but sometimes, Chad, it gets so fucking lonely here, because I’m such an outsider. No one gets me. No one understands what it’s like to still want boys. And I’m okay with being a loner, but I’m so not okay with being _lonely_.” Ryan blinks back tears, hating how this is affecting him.

“And then you ask me to help you with this play, and I’m elated, I’m ecstatic, I’m thrilled, until I remember that this is the new world. The world where everything is different and boys like girls and girls like boys and boys certainly do _not_ like other boys, and you don’t like other boys, and even though you’re still joined at the hip to Troy, it’s different now, you’re also joined at the hip to Taylor and I had already said yes, I couldn’t go back on that promise, because that would be rude.” 

Ryan takes a breath and is scared to look at Chad, and Chad seems to know he wants to say more, he waits him out, and Ryan’s grateful. 

“So I talked to Zanna, mentioned how I remembered the other world and how much better it was. And we realized that the only people who remember it are the people who haven’t changed. I mean, you haven’t changed, your personality is the same, but inside, you’ve changed. You liked girls here, so you don’t remember the way things used to be. And then you ask me about it. And then you ask me if I miss it, and it sends my mind reeling, because _God_ , Chad, yes, I miss it. I miss everything about it. But you asked me about it. And by asking me, you tell me you remember it, too. So now, I’m in this weird limbo where I’m questioning things. I don’t know how you feel about Taylor or Troy and don’t you see, Chad? If you remember, you haven’t _changed_.” Ryan finally pulls his eyes to Chad, and he’s so grateful for the cover of relative darkness, because he’s sure Chad can see everything in his eyes.

“And if you haven’t changed,” Ryan says softly, “that means you still like boys. And I’m plunged right back into wanting you again, and I never stopped, that’s not it, but here I didn’t get my hopes up, because of the hetero thing. But if you remember and you haven’t changed… then my hopes are sky high again, because if you like boys, at least there’s a shot. And I can’t do that again, have my hopes so high just to have them dashed.” He has no idea where his courage is coming from, but he rushes on. “So please, Chad. Even if you remember everything, but you still like girls, please tell me you don’t remember.” He looks into Chad’s eyes, his voice ragged. “Please.” 

Everything’s quiet for a moment. It’s as if the world stops turning as Ryan waits for Chad’s answer. The slight breeze has died down, crickets are quiet, waiting for his answer. Ryan can’t hear anything except the rushing in his head.

Chad takes a breath as he opens his mouth and Ryan braces himself, his eyes are locked on Chad’s, and he is completely ready to climb down from this tree house and go home, never to show his face again.

“I remember,” Chad says, his voice a whisper.

Ryan blinks and just stares. “You… remember?”

Chad bites his lower lip and nods, a smile starting to appear on his face. “I remember.” He slowly reaches out to touch Ryan’s cheek. “I didn’t. Not until we started our lessons.” His fingertip comes in contact with Ryan’s skin and Ryan is afraid to move, he doesn’t want to break Chad out of whatever reverie he is in. “But after we started dancing, I began to have flashes. I would see me and Troy kissing. Or Sharpay and Gabi, which was really fucking weird for me, okay?” 

Ryan laughs softly, shakily, and he barely knows what Chad is saying, because all he can focus on is the way Chad’s thumb is brushing over his cheekbone.

“But then,” Chad says, “it wasn’t flashes anymore. I’d see you in the hallway and my heart would lurch, and I’d just have to talk to you. And then that day when you showed me Kelsi’s song, I had this overwhelming flood of memories.” He uses his index finger to trace the curve of Ryan’s nose. “And suddenly, everything made so much more sense. Taylor always wanted more than I did, and I didn’t know why.”

Ryan swallows thickly, “And now you do?”

Chad nods, “Now I do,” he repeats. “Thank god in this world I don’t want Troy again, right?”

Ryan laughs out loud and nods, “Yeah. Thank god.” 

Chad smiles faintly and he bites his lower lip again, his eyes falling to Ryan’s mouth. Ryan stops laughing, and his breath catches, because he knows that look. Chad’s thumb moves from Ryan’s cheek to brush over his lower lip and Ryan’s lips part open slightly as Chad slides the pad of his thumb over them, and then he breathes, “Chad,” and that’s all the invitation Chad needs, because he’s closing the gap between them and then his mouth is warm on Ryan’s, and then he’s kissing him, warm lips and hot tongue and Ryan’s falling even deeper.

***** 

It’s not easy, Ryan thinks, and then immediately, his mind screams, “duh!” at him, because he knew it wasn’t going to be easy. It wasn’t easy for Zanna at his prom the year before, and nothing much has changed since then. But Ryan isn’t afraid of what people are going to say, and neither is Chad. 

Ryan finds it funny that he’s a bit braver than Chad is with this. Chad is standing outside the school with sweaty palms, and he’s fidgeting like a child waiting to get a shot. Ryan, on the other hand, is cool, his own hands in his pockets, watching Chad.

“It’ll be okay,” Ryan reassures him.

“Yeah,” Chad answers, but from his tone, Ryan knows Chad doesn’t believe that for a minute.

Ryan sighs, “We don’t have to do this. We can keep it between us,” he offers.

“No, no,” Chad says, shaking his head. “I want to do this. This is who we are. And if I have to watch Troy and Gabi make out by the lockers, he can watch me and you.”

A smile spreads on Ryan’s face, “You wanna make out with me by the lockers?”

“Well, yeah,” Chad says and for the first time all morning, the old Chad shows up, the cocky, confident Chad who can take on the world. “Of course. I want to make out with you all the time.”

Ryan grins and Chad grins back, and Ryan steps forward, reaching for Chad’s hand. “We can do this,” he says. “I don’t care what they say about me. They don’t matter.”

Chad nods, sliding his palm against Ryan’s, “They don’t matter,” he repeats, nodding.

Chad tugs on Ryan’s hand, pulling him closer and Ryan moves easily to him. Chad has always been his sun, the focus of his gravitational pull, so this is something Ryan knows, he’s familiar with wanting to be in Chad’s space, even if this is completely different than how it’s always been. This is a good different. A very good different.

Chad’s mouth covers Ryan’s, and Ryan sighs into his boyfriend’s mouth. From behind him, he hears Troy’s voice. “Hey, Chad! Save it for the bedroom, okay?”

Chad stiffens in Ryan’s arms and pulls back slowly. He looks over Ryan’s shoulder at Troy, and from the way he relaxes, Ryan’s positive Troy is grinning at his best friend and, at least between Chad and Troy, nothing’s changed, and Chad knows that Troy will still have his back.

“I will when you will, Bolton,” Chad tosses back and Ryan doesn’t turn around, but he can hear Troy’s laughter behind him.

“See?” Chad says to Ryan, “nothing to worry about.”

Ryan laughs, “Yeah, you told me. I don’t know why I didn’t listen,” he teases.

“I don’t know, either,” Chad grins, “I’m really kind of brilliant.”

Ryan laughs and is about to reply when Chad kisses him again.

Ryan really fucking loves this new world.


End file.
